


I send a hail of burning ice, on every field, of every town

by Zotinha456



Category: Original Work
Genre: Consequences, Do not post on another site, Fairy Tale Elements, Famine - Freeform, GFY, Gen, Hubris, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Plague, Revenge, Winter, in which binding a goddess to your will has consequences, no beta we die like men, the title is a prince of egypt reference for a reason, who'd have thought
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25155244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zotinha456/pseuds/Zotinha456
Summary: In which a goddess is kidnapped and there is divine retribution.
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Winter & Autumn
Kudos: 2





	I send a hail of burning ice, on every field, of every town

**Author's Note:**

> Title from The Plagues from Prince of Egypt. Story is mine. Do not repost. If you are seeing this somewhere you had to pay, head over to AO3 and read it for free. English is not my first language, feel free to correct me if anything is written weird.

Once upon a time, the goddess of Autumn came down to Earth from the Heavens for the first time. As she wandered around, awestruck by how different from her home Earth was, she came across a wizard, who recognized her for what she was. Immediately, the wizard Bound her and, as a way to gather favour, gifted the captured goddess to his king, in return to a place of honour in his court.

Trapped in a cage made of gilded gold and bound now to the king, Autumn was forced to obey her new master, halting the coming of winter and creating a neverending harvest.

On the third day, her younger brother, Winter, noticed something was amiss and came to the Earth after his sister.

Changing his appearance into that of an old man, Winter wandered through the kingdom, where he heard rumors of the neverending harvest, and realised his sister's fate.

Wary of having the same fate as her, and wishing to avoid giving the foolish king even more power over nature, the cunning Winter kept his distance and came to the king through a dream.

Through the dream, Winter warned the king:

"Autumn is not the only one of her kind. If you keep her, her ilk will take offense. Admit to your hubris and free her before sunset, and you'll be forgiven."

The king ignored the warning and, as the sun set, the curse of Winter began.

At first, it was easy to dismiss it as coincidence, as the wind started getting colder and the nights longer. Perhaps there was a limit to how long Autumn could hold winter back, after all.

Every night, Winter came to the king.

"Ask forgiviness to your hubris and free Autumn, and the curse shall be broken."

And, as the days went, each and every night, the king refused to free Autumn.

But Winter bid his time, for the slow and steady chase was his way.

The food started to rot twice as fast. The free animals started fleeing the country. The domesticated animals became sickly and, in the growing cold of the longer and longer nights, died in greater and greater number as time went on.

"Beg our forgiviness and free Autumn, and the curse shall be broken."

The king refused again and again.

Soon enough the sun stopped rising in the mornings, leaving the country in perpetual darkness. The last of the stock animals died.

The king's garden, hidden in his greenhouse, was not affected by the winter, but not even it was spared by the curse. The fruits became rotten without going ripe, the plants started shrivelling and dying. Nothing grew, as the ground itself seemed to fold to Winter's demands.

"The curse shall only grow worse in time." Warned Winter. "Ask for forgiviness for your hubris and free Autumn. Before it becomes too late."

But the king, once again, refused.

And then, a plague spread through the country. A weakness of the limbs, a never ending cough, fever that could not be abated, and, later, a sleep from which the person could not be roused from.

The king himself was not affected, as he was, far too often, too close to Autumn to be affected by Winter's curse so directly.

The same, however, could not be said of the king's only son.

That night, before Winter could speak, the king kneeled at his feet.

"I was arrogant, and foolish, and meddled with things I did not understand. Take your curse away, god of winter, for Autumn will be freed in the morning."

Winter nodded, but there was no satisfaction in his face, the entire ordeal has gone for too long for that.

"Once Autumn is freed, anyone not yet sick will not be infected. The curse will linger no more."

"And what of those already sick? Can they be saved?"

"I am Winter. I bring cold, and sickness, and death. I take and I take and I take." He said somberly. "But healing is not within my abilities. Those already affected by the plague cannot be saved, even by my hand."

At that, the king grew furious.

"I did what you asked! I kneeled at your feet like a peasant and begged for forgiveness, and for what? What is the point of this, if my son will still die anyway?"

Winter's eyes darkened.

"Look at your kingdom, king of ashes, and rejoice at the results of your actions." Said Winter, eyes dark, furious that still, after everything, the king still did not understand, "Look at your son, look at your subjects, look at your kingdom, and know that none of this would have happened if you had heeded my warning on the first day."

At sunrise, the king opened the golden cage, freeing Autumn and breaking the curse.

At sunset, the king's son drew his last breath.


End file.
